“Mi sono innamorato di Marina/una ragazza mora ma carina/ma lei non vuol saperne del mio amor/cosa farò per conquistar il suo cuor…”
(“I fell in love with Marina/a dark-haired but pretty woman/but she doesn’t care about my love/what will I do to conquer her heart".)
Did you recognize the opening words of the song above? It became famous the world over during the 1960s. The author and singer is Rocco Granata, an Italian who moved to Belgium in 1949 from the province of Cosenza when he was 10 years old, so his father could work in the coal mines there.
Since he was child, Granata showed a great passion for music and went around bars to perform. In 1959, he participated in a competition – before getting on stage, as he was improvising to come up with a song, his gaze fell on a poster advertising a cigarette brand: Marina. And so the song was born, thus revealing that Marina is not a woman, but a cigarette brand.
That was the beginning of a career that brought Granata to the U.S., where he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, to Canada, and back to Italy, at the Sanremo Music Festival. The song Marina has been covered many times by different artists, including Louis Armstrong.
Now a movie, “Marina,” tells the story of Granata, who is a superstar in Belgium. The film premiered there, in Genk, and for the occasion, more than 4,000 people showed up, including Prince Lorenzo and Princess Claire of Belgium.
The film was presented last week at the Rome Film festival and will be released in cinemas on January 9, 2014. It stars Matteo Simoni (as Granata), Luigi Lo Cascio (as Granata's father) and Donatella Finocchiaro (as Granata's mother).
"Marina, Marina, Marina...ti voglio al più presto sposar…"
Listen to Marina:
